The Piano Room in the “AI x Music” exhibition serves as an experimental space for the latest developments in music and technology. Its centerpiece is the Yamaha DC1 self-playing grand piano and a visualization that displays the frequencies and volume of the music in real time.
Instruments like this can store and reproduce performances in great detail using electronic recording sensors. With 1024 intensity levels for keys and hammers and 256 intensity levels for pedals, the grand piano’s optical sensors capture even the finest key and pedal movements. Electromagnets automatically strike the keys and actuate the pedals. The keys of the self-playing instrument move as if by “magic”, reproducing the pianist’s performance data.
The scope of application of the self-playing piano, however, goes far beyond the technical replacement of human artistry. The self-playing piano enables completely new artistic formats between man and machine and is therefore increasingly used in experimental projects in the field of AI and music. The real-time visualizations in the Piano Room make both the frequencies and the volume of the acoustically perceptible music visually tangible and comprehensible.
Credits: Ars Electronica Futurelab, Cori O’Lan